CaptainJackHarkness

After a two-year hiatus, another global incident means it's time to reassemble 'Torchwood' (Fri., 10PM ET on Starz) to figure out what's going on. This time, it looks like the gang is being forcibly relocated to the United States by a dead man.

But then again, that's the problem. 'Miracle Day' is the subtitle of this series of 'Torchwood.' Where 'Children of Earth' had every child on the planet impacted, this one affects every living person. And every living person is every person on the planet ... no matter what.

No one is dying, even the people who should be dying, including our friend who surrounds Gwen, Jack and Rhys at the close of this premiere. There's some strange connection to Torchwood and this global crisis.

Weird things happen on 'Torchwood,' which kicks off an intriguing new season Friday on Starz. But no matter how strange things get on the genre-flavored drama, the eminently relatable Gwen Cooper remains grounded, practical and even dryly witty.

Despite the terror that can accompany working for the 'Torchwood' team, which investigates otherworldly threats to Earth, you get the impression that the former cop wouldn't have it any other way.

I recently spoke to Eve Myles, who plays Cooper, about Gwen's journey from Welsh cop to alien investigator to mother. Through it all, Gwen has remained the best friend of Captain Jack Harkness, which isn't exactly an easy gig -- and it sounds as though that role gets even tougher in 'Torchwood: Miracle Day,' which depicts what would happen if people on Earth were to suddenly stop dying.

Barrowman is expected to leave England in March to come to Los Angeles to begin filming. He'll appear on screen in April, and he's there for a mini-arc, at least five episodes. And he will be playing a malevolent man, i.e. a villain.

Ausiello reports that he's going to be involved with Angie's story. How will he impact on the Bolens, who are already brimming with angst and drama? Doesn't sound like it will be a positive impact.

We can classify this under "train wrecks waiting to happen." Fox has picked up the rights to produce an American version of the BBC sci-fi spin-off of Doctor Who, Torchwood.

Series creator Russell T. Davies is writing the pilot (and several other former executives of the original are behind the show), so there will likely be many similarities and possibly even nods to Doctor Who continuity. Critics who haven't seen the original will likely pigeonhole the show as The X-Files with more ostentatious sci-fi elements.

The question is, how will the show be handled? Will it be a complete reboot? Will it be an American branch of the institution? Most importantly, will John Barrowman star as Captain Jack Harkness (hey, he's already got the American accent)?

John Barrowman, best known as Captain Jack Harkness on the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, has confirmed that he has signed to play the character again in the series' fourth season. Unlike the mini-series of the third season, Barrowman claims that the fourth will have a full 13-episode run.

Given that the majority of the cast was killed off during seasons two and three, this would represent a good opportunity for Russell T. Davies and whichever other creators are involved to re-invent the series. Whether the new series will involve the newest Doctor Matt Smith is anybody's guess, however given Davies' departure from the source program (which, granted, was amicable) and his likely desire to similarly remove Torchwood from Doctor Who continuity as much as possible, I doubt it.

So here we have Captain Jack returning to Earth and assembling a new team. Will Gwen be involved as well, child in tow? Are you looking forward to a new season of Torchwood?

Online sources have been informed that Torchwood has been picked up for a fourth season. This is not surprising considering the excellent ratings received by the BBC for Season 3, despite relegating that season to a five-episode mini-series.

Spoilers follow. You have been warned.

The brilliant thing about the next season of Torchwoodis that the creators have a chance to start from scratch. Ianto is dead. Jack is gone. Gwen is pregnant. Gwen could decide after the baby is born to start a new team. Or, Jack could come back. Or Ianto could return from the dead (it's happened on the show before).

The powers that be could even decide to start a new team from scratch, although I think something would be missing without at least Captain Jack around. Torchwood (the organization, not the show) has gone through many incarnations and survived much worse than the slaughter or dissolution of a particular set of members. Whatever is decided, I look forward to it.

SPOILERS! No griping, all ye who pass here and have not visited episode four on their DVR.

Read Mike Moody' s review here. Okay, last chance if you haven't seen episode four already, here we go....

Ianto isn't dead. He just isn't, okay. I know, I know, we saw him succumb to the gas and die in Jack's arms. I know they said their goodbyes, I know Gwen pulled back the sheet and he was all pale and looked not at all well, and he was in the room with all the dead people under the orange sheets. And I saw everyone talking about how they'll miss him in the Torchwood special after the episode. I saw all the same things you did.

I don't know what's going to happen in episode five, but I can't conceive of it involving Ianto actually being dead. He and Jack are too much fun, and their relationship is too different from anything else on television, and it just got started. I don't know what kind of dues ex machine, Alec Guinness on Endor has to happen, but I'll be looking for it.

Despite having a shortened upcoming third season, episodes of Torchwood continue to be made. This next one, however, will be on the radio rather than television. The episode is called "Lost Souls" and was written by Joseph Lidster.

The episode takes place after the season two finale "Exit Wounds." It will star the surviving members of that slaughter played by the actors John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Gareth David-Lloyd. Freema Agyeman will also appear in the episode as former Doctor Who companion Martha Jones.

I managed to get my hands on a few of the Doctor Who audio adventures put out by Big Finish Productions and have enjoyed them tremendously (particularly since they give me a chance to hear what Paul McGann would have been like as the Doctor had he continued in the role). With that in mind, I'm looking forward to what an audio adventure of Torchwood has to offer.

(S04E13) The latest season of Doctor Who gets resolved with a story that seems rushed, confusing and filled with self-love on the part of showrunner Russell T. Davies. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was bad.

To begin, the CGI and special effects are quite possibly the best ever seen on the show. Despite being in charge of the specials that will be airing next year, it seems that this episode was treated as the last that Davies will ever run. As a result, he wrapped up most every storyline he could think of going back to the first season.

(S02E13) Well, despite some ups and downs throughout the season, to say that this second run went out with a bang, both literally and emotionally, would be an understatement. Definitely, this ranks as one of the best episodes of the series so far and so amazingly surpasses the first season finale in every way. Where that was a silly overblown giant monster romp, this one existed on a much more intimate level within the lives of our cast of characters.

The cast and crew spent all season really fleshing out this team for us and making us learn to love and care for each of them; all of it leading to this stunning finale. Now the events herein could really resonate. Now you might be asking why such a generic Torchwood picture for such a key episode? I see it as a tribute. To what? Well, if you've seen the episode, maybe you know what. If not, what the hell are you doing here? Go watch it already.

(S02E06) "Let's say we were under the same Doctor." Martha Jones explaining to Owen how she knows Jack.

This was probably the most anticipated episode of the season for die-hard Doctor Who fans. It marked the arrival of The Doctor's most recent companion, Martha Jones, for an extended run on the series. As fans of that series know, Jack met up with Martha during his most recent bout with The Doctor on Doctor Who. At the end of that show's fourth season, Martha made the decision to leave The Doctor and stay behind on Earth. As such, it makes perfect sense that she would be available now to appear on the spin-off. And she fit in pretty seamlessly with the gang, even serving to lighten up Jack a lot.

(S02E03) The adventure starts in 1918, featuring the Torchwood of its era. We get to see the future from the perspective of the past and the end of the episode from the perspective of the beginning. Confusing? Good. It's time travel, you're supposed to be confused. Torchwood continue its string of excellent episodes this run with this Tosh-centric installment. The inner struggles between team members seem to be a thing of the past, resolved while Jack was away, and what we have now is a real solid force that I can believe is prepared for whatever is coming.

Did you really think Captain Jack wouldn't be back? Now in its second series/season in both the UK and the US, we're going to do things a little differently with our Torchwood reviews this year. The fine folks on both sides of the pond finally got things squared away so that new episodes air much closer in the US to their initial UK airing. The third episode airs this Saturday, February 9, on BBC America, which is a little more than a week after the UK airing. To minimize any "spoilery" concerns, the episode reviews will follow the US airings.

But before we can get to that, we need to play a little bit of catch up, so look for an overview of the first two episodes of Series/Season Two after the jump. And about that image up there spoiling the first episode? Hey, that might just be a flashback sequence. That's right, I got you there.

(S01E12 / S01E13) I really only have one minor complaint about this end-of-season double-bill of Torchwood, and it's barely worth mentioning.

For a debut season of a large budget sci-fi show on the BBC, scheduled late in a poor slot on a digital channel with limited viewers and decidedly adult themes, strong language and graphic violence, this show succeeded where so many others fail miserably.

And it achieved its success by giving viewers a taste of something usually only witnessed in much higher-profile shows, such as its big sister show Doctor Who; originality.

(S01E12) Now THAT'S how you play Big Brother. If the evicted were vaporized instead of allowed to come back during 'All-Star' challenges I would certainly tune in on a weekly basis. Alas, the current producers of the show, both in America and the UK, probably have no intentions of implementing any type of vaporizing beam on the housemates. Well, one can dream, can't they?

We're back on Satellite 5, except 100 years later than the last time we were there during The Long Game. It's not the hub of the galaxy's news anymore; now it's the Game Station and its contestants don't play the games voluntarily. This is where our story begins as The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Rose (Billie Piper) and Captain Jack (John Barrowman) get split up into three different game shows. Rose gets stuck on an episode of The Weakest Link where the loser gets disintigrated; Jack lands on an episode of What Not to Wear featuring two androids (who look a bit like large Lego people with breasts) who want to put a duck head on the good Captain and attach his legs onto his chest ; and The Doctor makes it into the Big Brother house (one of sixty on the Game Station) where those evicted get turned into a fine powder.